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CompletedNCT02831985ConVenTuUpdated Nov 2, 2023

Postoperative Controls of Ventilation Tubes in Children - by General Practitioner or Otolaryngologist?

An interventional study of general practice follow-up and ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist follow-up in Otitis, sponsored by Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Completed at 6 sites in Norway. Open to participants aged 3 Years to 10 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-11-02.

Sponsored by Norwegian University of Science and Technology · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
322
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
3 Years to 10 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

A large number of children with otitis media undergo surgery with ventilation tubes (VTs) placed in the tympanic membrane. This is done to improve hearing and speech development and to reduce ear complaints. The long-term results of VTs are unclear. Follow-up care is required to assure that the tubes are functional, hearing loss has been corrected, and potential complications are properly diagnosed and managed. Guidelines regarding follow-up care give different advices concerning when, how and by whom the controls should be made.

The primary goal of this study is to investigate if follow-up care after surgery with VTs of children aged 3-10 years can be done by general practitioners instead of specialists without negative consequences for the patient.

In the study the child's hearing and speech development, middle ear function, subjective complaints and complications will be assessed. User satisfaction and other aspects related to the quality of control will also be assessed.

If the study shows that follow-ups after surgery with VTs can be done on the level of primary care without loss of care quality, specialist health care services will be spared and cost-effectiveness for the overall healthcare system will improve.

Read the detailed description

Remark: the change in age range of included children from 4-10 to 3-10 was approved by REK (ethics committee) in November 2018.

02

Conditions studied

  • Otitis

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Keywords

  • Child
  • Middle ear ventilation
  • Follow-up studies
  • General practitioners
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
3 Years to 10 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Insertion of a ventilation tube in at least one ear
  • patient at Trondheim University Hospital, Molde Hospital, Aalesund Hospital, Kristiansund Hospital, Stavanger Hospital, Hospital North Norway, or Innlandet Hospital in Gjøvik.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Medical syndromes or other co-existing severe disease that possibly result in increased complication rate after insertion of ventilation tubes, i.e. Downs Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia
  • Auditory processing disorder (APD)
  • Severe neurogenic hearing loss (HL) at least one ear (> 50dB HL in frequencies 0.25 - 4.0 KHz)
  • Guardians or children who do not master the Norwegian language
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Health services research
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
322 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    general practice follow-up

    post-surgery follow-up by general practitioner

    Procedure: general practice follow-up

  • Active comparator
    ENT specialist follow-up

    post-surgery follow-up by ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist

    Procedure: ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist follow-up

Interventions

  • Proceduregeneral practice follow-up

    Post-surgery follow-up by general practitioner

  • Procedureear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist follow-up

    Post-surgery follow-up by ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. audiogram

    pure tone thresholds in decibel (dB) at 0.25-0.5-1-2-4 kHz

    Time frame: 2 years

  2. audiogram

    pure tone thresholds in decibel (dB) at 0.25-0.5-1-2-4 kHz

    Time frame: 4 years

06

Study locations

6 sites
  • Sykehuset Innlandet Gjøvik
    Gjøvik, Norway
  • Kristansund Sykehus
    Kristiansund, Norway
  • Molde Sykehus
    Molde, Norway
  • Stavanger Sykehus
    Stavanger, Norway
  • St Olavs Hospital, ØNH-Avdelingn
    Trondheim, Norway
  • Ålesund Sykehus
    Ålesund, Norway
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Austad B, Nilsen AH, Helvik AS, Albrektsen G, Nordgard S, Thorstensen WM. Postoperative controls of ventilation tubes in children by general practitioner or otolaryngologist? Study protocol for a multicenter randomized non-inferiority study (The ConVenTu study). Trials. 2020 Nov 23;21(1):950. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04849-3. Erratum In: Trials. 2024 Jun 20;25(1):402. doi: 10.1186/s13063-024-08259-7. PubMed 33228735 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02831985
Lead sponsor
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Collaborators
St. Olavs Hospital, Alesund Hospital, Kristiansund Hospital, Molde Hospital, Helse Stavanger HF, Sykehuset Innlandet HF
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 13, 2016
Start date
Aug 15, 2017
Primary completion
Nov 1, 2023
Completion
Nov 1, 2023
Last update
Nov 2, 2023

Study contacts

Wencke Moe Thorstensen, PhD
principal investigator · Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Anne S Helvik, PhD
study director · Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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